 |
Vol. 8 Spring 1999 |
|
 |
June 1998 marked the opening of the Long Beach Aquarium of the Pacific, a US$117 million project developed by Kajima Urban Development and built through a joint venture between Kajima Construction Services and Turner Construction. The 14,560- square-meter building contains more than 10,000 live specimens in 48 tanks filled with approximately 3.8 million liters of water. As one of the United States' premier aquariums, the facility can accommodate 10,000 visitors per day and is expected to host more than 1.8 million in its first year. At the dedication ceremony, Chairman of the Board Jim Gray remarked, "Here we are--on time and on budget--with a facility dedicated to marine conservation and that magnificent Pacific Ocean." |
The Long Beach Aquarium of the Pacific follows a major urban trend in the United States: using cultural and entertainment venues to boost economic development. The aquarium is part of the Queensway Bay redevelopment effort in downtown Long Beach that includes a private retail development, a US$19.3 million park, a 610-meter-long walkway, docks for commercial fishing and tour boats, and a 1,500-space parking garage. Private revenue bonds financed the aquarium and are backed by revenue guarantees from hotel taxes and fees collected from the shipping business in the Port of Long Beach. |
|
Aquarium attendance has already met or exceeded projections. Extended hours and other crowd control methods have been instituted to insure a positive visitor experience, and other local attractions, such as Shoreline Village, Pine Street, and the Queen Mary,have seen dramatic increases in visitorship. Mayor Beverly O'Neill called the aquarium "a symbol of our bright economic future." |
|
 |
|
A 27-meter-long, 3,630- kilogram fiberglass replica of a blue whale hangs over the central Great Hall at the entrance to the exhibits. The Great Hall contains samples of species from the aquarium's three major exhibits: Southern California/Baja, the Tropical Pacific, and the Northern Pacific. Particularly dramatic is the 538,000-liter, three-story predator tank with its 400 creatures, including leopard sharks, barracudas, giant sea bass, moray eels, and yellowtail tuna. Twenty-three centimeters of acrylic window separates the visitors from the animals. |
|
 |
LONG BEACH AQUARIUM OF THE PACIFIC Project Type : Attraction
with three major exhibit areas detailing the Pacific Ocean |
Just off the Great Hall, an underwater tunnel leads visitors into the 780,000- liter sea lion and harbor seal tank that begins the aquarium's tour of Southern California/Baja. The animals swim around the tunnel, sharing the water with divers. The end of the tunnel leads outside where the sea lions and harbor seals can be seen sunning themselves on the rocks. An adjacent tank contains dozens of stingrays, bat rays, and skates. |
|
The Northern Pacific exhibit highlights sea life of the freezing waters of Siberia and Alaska and simulates these areas' conditions through reduced room temperature and artificial fog. Here, one can view diving birds, giant Japanese spider crabs, and the Pacific octopus. A two-tiered viewing area with a 13-meter-wide acrylic panel currently allows multiangled viewing of three young sea otters in their 159,000-liter tank. |
|
The final exhibit area covers the tropical Pacific and the coral reefs found near the islands of Palau. Blue-spotted stingrays, golden trevallies, cardinal fish, and other species inhabit the shallow, warm water. A 1.3-million-liter tank in this area has 1,000 fish, including black tip and gray reef sharks, giant groupers, and clown triggerfish. Divers at the tropical reef put on a feeding show for visitors, starting from the bottom of the tank and working their way up to the giant sharks who swim at the top. |
|
 |
The Long Beach Aquarium of the Pacific was designed as a joint venture between Hellmuth, Obata + Kassabaum Inc. and Escherick, Homsey Dodge & Davis and represents the cutting edge of seismic design. The building's curves, irregular polygons, and undulating steel roof as well as its tanks up to nine meters high presented a formidable challenge to architects and engineers. The building's wet side (where the fish are housed) holds 80% of the structure's load and has a reinforced concrete system that includes curved shear walls between 41 and 61 centimeters thick. Trusses 1.2 meters in depth span the two sides of the building, creating the unique wave-like form of the roof. |
The site was improved to prevent liquefaction and lateral spreading in the event of an earthquake. More than 1,800 stone columns, ranging from 11 to 26 meters deep, were used to densify the soil. A concrete mat, 71 centimeters thick, was placed on top of the stone columns to allow the building to move as a unit during a seismic event. In the end, the architects and engineers successfully mitigated seismic safety concerns while still providing an innovative design for the world-class aquarium. |
|
More than 250,000 people had gone through the building by only its 26th day of operation and 1,000,000 by December 10, 1998. Membership now totals at least 50,000 families. The aquarium staff numbers more than 150 employees and 400 volunteers who manage and maintain a building that has already become a cultural icon in southern California. |
|
|
Vol. 8
|
   All rights reserved, Copyright (c) 1999 KAJIMA CORPORATION |